Save You
by amariys
Summary: Aomine knew he was powerless, but he just couldn't help the strong feeling to save Kise, even if it was just a wistful thinking. Complete.


**Title: **Save You

**Writer: **Amariys

**Words count: **3775 words

**Fandom/Characters: **Kuroko no Basket/Aomine Daiki, Kise Ryota, Momoi Satsuki, minor OCs.

**Disclaimer: **Kuroko no Basket is not mine. No trademark infringement or profit meant from the writing of this story.

**Rating: **T

**Summary: **Aomine knew he was powerless, but he just couldn't help the strong feeling to save Kise, even if it was just a wistful thinking.

**Warnings: **Major character death.

**A/N: **This fanfic was inspired greatly by Simple Plan's song, Save You and from my own personal experience.

* * *

Twenty two, twenty three, twenty four, twenty five. Aomine counted his steps silently in his head before stopping. Just five more steps in front of him, he could see the closed wooden door of his destination. He stared at the door, silently berating his self for being so anxious—so afraid—of something ridiculous like entering a simple room. Aomine took a deep breath, pulling his self together before taking the five last steps and pushing the door open. The strong smell of alcohol welcoming him as he did so was disturbingly familiar enough by now he scarcely noticed it.

Stepping further into the room, Aomine knew perfectly well what he'd see inside. It hadn't changed at all for these three months and, despite his wish of seeing something different just so he wouldn't feel the world had been put on a rewind in some strange effect, he still saw the same scenery each and every time he entered the room: white wall, white furniture, white bed with a single occupant who brought the only color into the room by his blond mane. Usually, there were other visitors already inside when Aomine arrived, people who added more color and, more importantly, life to a room tinged heavily with despair and sickness. This time, though, the room was empty but for the only occupant currently sleeping on the horribly white bed.

Eight quiet steps, just as Aomine remembered it, and he was standing beside the bed, staring down at the sleeping face of Kise Ryouta. Aomine's blue irises scanned the blond's face, taking in the paleness of that handsome face, the hints of sweat drying on skin, the way blond brows furrowed lightly and the way Kise's red lips parted as he breathed in and out in a soft, regular pattern. Something in Aomine's chest twisted badly at the sight and he felt torn from the inside.

Today was a bad day for Kise. Aomine hoped desperately he could do something to take all the pain away from the blond because it was just unfair to see someone who once was so lively being caged inside this bland, boring room, sleeping in that fetal position while being in obvious pain.

The dark skinned man stayed standing for a moment longer; watching the sleeping man with helplessness consuming his mind, before finally he let gravity pulled his body down onto a chair placed on the bed side. As he sat there, Aomine Daiki waited patiently for honey brown irises to open and gaze back at him with warmth he knew very well and unwanted to miss. Silently, he bowed his head and, for the umpteenth time in the last three months, shredded his pride to pray, begging to the God he didn't even believe beforehand to give him the answer needed to save the man who had become so important for him.

No matter how many time had passed, Aomine still—no, couldn't let himself gave up.

**xXXx**

It all started three months ago. Perhaps it had actually started way longer before that, but for Aomine, it was the time when his life was turning upside down.

He and Kise were having their weekly one-on-one. It had been two years since they first faced against each other in Interhigh, two years since Aomine lost from Kuroko and gained his love for basketball again, two years since Kise approached him with a request of having a weekly one-on-one on the quiet, rare time they got when there was no championship to focus on. The silly blond had first initiated a daily one-on-one, apparently forgetting or simply dismissing the distance between Kaijou (Kanagawa) and Touou (Tokyo), but thankfully Aomine was smart enough to turn that presumptuous offer down. After much whining and little bargaining, finally Kise managed to make Aomine agreed on weekly one-on-one.

To be honest, Aomine actually enjoyed their game. Kise was one of the few people with whom Aomine could play in full-strength and not be disappointed afterwards. The blond man was Aomine's most loyal follower—despite his exclamation of stop admiring Aomine back in interhigh (It was bullshit from the start, Aomine knew). Both of them loved basketball with equal passion and their skills made their games always interesting. It was always thrilling seeing Kise pushing himself to the limit and even further only to catch up with Aomine.

It was as they played their weekly game Aomine realized something was very wrong with his ex-teammate. Aomine could still remember that day clearly and he knew he would never forget it. They had been playing until the sun was setting. The sky was red in color, the breeze chilling their damp skin, but their movements pumped enough blood and exerting more than necessary warmth to keep them going. It was one of their most intense games yet and Aomine almost—_almost_—felt pressured by Kise's moves. The blond man surely was deserving of the genius title bestowed to him as he kept on progressing and getting better rapidly. That was why, the thrill Aomine felt when he stole the ball from Kise's hand and immediately rushed forward to win the current round ("You sure want to play again? We've been playing ten rounds already, Kise!") with a dunk was making him quite dizzy with pleasure.

Aomine was still grinning widely as he landed on the ground; ready to taunt his victory in front of Kise's pouting face. As he turned around, though, the grin on his face froze immediately. Aomine's brain seemed to malfunctioning for a short while when he saw Kise—the one who always ran after him, the one who was so close in catching up to him—lying on the ground, writhing and clutching at his head like he was in great pain. Confusion was the first reaction Aomine got and he, automatically, ran towards the fallen man, thinking Kise was exaggerating his lost.

However, as Aomine kneeled beside the blond man and demanded Kise to stop joking around, he received no response whatsoever. Kise just shut his eyes even tighter as tears slowly falling from the corner of his eyes. It was at that moment Aomine knew Kise was not faking the pain. The blond man never was a good actor, anyway. Almost immediately, panic and fear grabbed hold of Aomine's mind. He didn't know what to do, how to help his suffering friend and it was the first time Aomine felt absolute helplessness chilling his bones.

Aomine's body moved on auto pilot as they fished out his cell phone from his pocket and dialed Satsuki's number. Aomine didn't remember what he had said exactly, but he must have sounded so distressed because Satsuki had ended the phone shortly after and came running not ten minutes later. Kise was still writhing and panting on the ground when the pink haired girl came, but thankfully Satsuki managed to be calm enough to call an ambulance.

The trip to the hospital seemed longer than anything Aomine had felt before. He just couldn't tear his gaze away from Kise's pained face, even after the paramedic had injected some sort of drugs that made the blond haired man fell asleep while they drove him to the nearest hospital. Aomine didn't even realize he was clutching his hands too tightly until Satsuki placed her own cold, trembling hands above his, gently prying his fingers loose. The two childhood friends stayed silent through the rest of the way, with Satsuki leaning her head on Aomine's shoulder as they gave and took strength from each other.

Once they arrived at the hospital, Kise was immediately brought into the emergency room and Satsuki offered to call Kise's parents—who were still working, Aomine knew very well—so Aomine was left alone in the waiting room. He felt strangely numb as he sat there, eyes gazing but not exactly seeing the people walking around the hospital. Aomine still didn't understand what had happened. Just minutes before, Kise was his usual lively, annoying self, chasing after Aomine passionately as he tried to steal the ball and then, all of the sudden he was just lying on the ground, writhing as pain so great attacked him until he couldn't even form words. Aomine just didn't believe something like that could really happen.

Satsuki came back and sat beside him after a while—Aomine wasn't sure how long she was gone because time seemed to move so very slowly in his shock—and said Kise's parents were heading to the hospital. Aomine could only nod in response. He didn't care about that. All Aomine wanted to hear right now was for the doctor to tell him—tell _them_—Kise was alright and he was only slightly overexerting himself.

Sadly, what he got was the opposite of his wish. In fact, it might be even worse. Aomine didn't know words could have such a devastating effect on anyone until he heard the doctor's diagnose of Kise's illness: Brain-stem cancer.

It might be only his illusion, but Aomine swore he felt the world around him crumbled as he registered the words.

**xXXx**

"Aomine_cchi_…?"

That voice was no stronger than a whisper, weak and tired, but it was enough to pull Aomine back from his memories. The dark skinned man lifted his face, forcing a smile to appear on his face even though the muscles around his mouth protested at the movement. Faking a smile was fucking hard. Aomine didn't know how Kise could make it looked so very damn easy. He could not let the blond man worried about him, though, so he tried his best to keep the smile on. It got easier as his dark blue irises met with Kise's hazy brown orbs.

"Hey, Kise." Aomine pulled his chair closer to the bed so they could chat more comfortably.

The blond man offered a weak smile as he gazed up at the dark skinned man. Kise still looked very tired and he was still lying on the bed, not having enough strength to even sit up. His brown orbs were having difficulty focusing on Aomine's face. "You come. I'd thought you'll be too busy today."

"Eh, it's not rare for me to ditch practice, right?" Aomine shrugged his shoulders quite uncomfortably. True, he shouldn't be visiting Kise since it was fast approaching summer, which meant interhigh was coming soon and Touou basketball team had been increasing their practice time lately. He should be practicing right now instead of coming to Kanagawa, but Aomine just couldn't let himself forget about the blond man. He would feel bad if he missed his daily visit and thus breaking the routine he had built for three months.

"… You shouldn't care too much about me, Aomine_cchi_. I—it's alright if you give up, you know? You're not responsible for anything, after all."

Kise's words felt like a slap to Aomine's face. It stung like a betrayal. The blue haired man immediately straightened up as the familiar feeling of rage started to build up inside of him. He clenched his fist tightly, trying to hold his anger at bay. "Don't you dare tell me to give up!" Aomine snarled, surprising Kise. "I will not give up on you, Kise, and it's not because I feel responsible of anything. I will be waiting for you to chase after me again. We will be playing one-on-one again, you hear me? I will not give up on you. Never! So don't you dare giving up either until you've beaten this stupid illness!"

Wide brown orbs were locked to Aomine's intense dark blue ones and as Aomine watched, those beautiful twin pools started to fill with tears. Kise then bowed his head, though, hiding his face from Aomine's gaze with his long, unruly bangs as he said in trembling voice, "That's really unfair. You should've just given up on me, Aomine_cchi_, because I'm tired already. I don't think I can fight any longer. There's no use in fighting against something you can never win from, anyway and I'm just … so tired already."

Aomine had never felt the urge to destroy something as bad as he did right now. "The Kise Ryouta I know will never give up, not even when he has been beaten over and over again. The Kise Ryouta I know will always be ridiculously optimistic. No one will be able to erase the smile from his face. Don't tell me that Kise Ryouta is gone now. Even if it takes you forever, I will be waiting for another match, Kise. All I ask of you is to not giving up. Please."

It was the first time Aomine had ever pleaded for anything. He was, first and foremost, a prideful man. Pleading was the last thing Aomine would ever do, but right now, he would gladly throw away his pride. It was a small price to pay compared to Kise's life. There were still so many things Aomine wanted Kise to know—all the meaningless things and important ones. He couldn't let Kise gave up. Not now, not ever.

He just hoped it would be enough for the blond man.

**xXXx**

Kise's parents had never liked Aomine much. They thought he was too unruly, too scary to be around their model son. Aomine could hardly give a fuck to what they thought even if he disliked it. As he always visited Kise, though, avoiding the blond's parents was impossible. Thankfully, through time, it appeared that the elderly couple had accepted Aomine—more or less. At least, they seemed to appreciate Aomine sparing his time to visiting and taking care of Kise while they were working. Both of Kise's parents were very busy. They could not stay and look after their son until weekend, so sometimes Aomine would stay there on the weekdays—simply because he knew the blond would whine if he was left alone, of course.

So when Aomine entered Kise's room the next day only to find the blond was accompanied by his parents, Aomine had simply bowed slightly towards the elder couple before approaching the former Kaijou's ace sitting up on the bed. Kise looked better today. His skin had gained more healthy color, no longer sickly pale, and more importantly there was life shining in the brown orbs. Aomine could feel his lips automatically stretched into a grin when he saw Kise's bright smile—a rare sight nowadays.

"Aomine_cchi_! You're quite late, aren't you?"

"Yeah, can't ditch training today. Gonna be having more practice tomorrow, too. It's just too bothersome." Aomine sighed as he sat on the edge of Kise's bed. Faintly, he heard Kise's parents saying something about grabbing food before they left the room, leaving the two of them alone.

"It's no wonder. Interhigh is coming soon, right? _Sempai _has been telling me all about it. He's co-training the Kaijou regulars along with the coach." Kise chuckled, remembering Kasamatsu whose love for Kaijou basketball team hadn't changed at all even though he was already a college student by now.

"Yeah, interhigh is in about a week," Aomine's eyes shifted to the new basketball sitting on the bedside table. "Is that a present from Kasamatsu?" he inquired. Aomine had grudgingly respected the short man. Kasamatsu genuinely cared about Kise, after all, even if he often showed his caring in such a strange way—like kicking Kise's ass literally.

"Oh, yes!" Kise's face brightened as he reached out to take the ball. As the blond man brought it closer to them, Aomine could see there were lots of signed words and names attached on the ball. It was from the Kaijou's regular members, if Aomine remembered their names correctly—which was doubtful, of course. "It was a promise to win the interhigh this year. I sure hope I can watch their matches, though."

The blond man trailed off with a sad sigh. Aomine didn't like it. He slapped the ball away from Kise's hand, catching it and starting to spin it on his finger instead. At least that managed to erase the sad expression on Kise's face. "Heh, sorry to say, but Kaijou won't win against Touou. Not as long as I'm still playing. Without you, there won't be anyone in that team who can keep up with me."

As Aomine intended, Kise pouted, instantly forgetting the slight melancholy flitting passed him moments ago. "You can't know that for sure, Aomine_cchi_! Kaijou is a strong team!"

"I'm not saying they are weak," Aomine shrugged, stopping the spin of the basketball on his finger and giving it back to Kise. "I'm just stating the fact they won't win without you. So you have to get better soon if you still want Kaijou to win the Interhigh."

Kise fell silent then as he dropped his gaze to the basketball now resting on his lap. Aomine let the silence filled the room. It wasn't as oppressive as the previous day, so it was still bearable enough. At least, Kise didn't look like he was about to cry right now.

After a moment, the blond finally spoke up in a quiet voice, "I apologize for yesterday, Aomine_cchi_. It was … a lapse. It won't happen again."

"… It's alright if it does happen again, Kise," Aomine responded in a soft voice, trying—wanting Kise to understand that it was alright to let everything out once in a while, to stop acting so strong all the time. "You have every right to feel tired and to give up, even. However, I need you to understand there are still lots of people who will always be waiting for you to return to their lives. Those people care about you and they will be very sad if you are giving up so easily. It's alright to stumble down once in a while, because I will be here to pick you off of the ground. It's alright to lose faith, since I will give you the strength to pull through, but you shouldn't give up, Kise. Just promise me you won't give up and I promise I will be there for you. Always."

Aomine reached out and gently pushed Kise's head until the blond's forehead rested on his chest. He could feel Kise's lean body shaking slightly as tears wetted the front of his shirt. "There are still so many things I want to say to you, so you have to get better soon, you understand?" He whispered right against Kise's ear.

Kise couldn't even form words to respond. He just nodded with a broken sob as his hands slowly clutched at Aomine's back. It really wasn't fair how Aomine could say just the thing Kise wanted to hear and made him admired the man even more. Kise buried his face on Aomine's chest, taking in the warmth that surrounded him like a comfortable blanket. Kise's grip on Aomine's back tightened. He didn't even want to let the other man go. For once, Kise wished to be selfish and for time to stop so they would not have to let go forever.

However, all good things had to end. This Kise knew very well and so, very reluctantly, he pulled away from Aomine's warmth, a watery smile showing on his face. "Aomine_cchi _really could say some really embarrassing things with straight face sometimes. It's amazing."

"S-shut up, you! It's your fault for being weak and saying ridiculous things first!" Aomine snapped, a red hue visible even through his dark skin tone dirtying his face even as he ruffled Kise's hair quite roughly, eliciting a shriek and laughter from the blond man. "Don't you dare telling anyone about this!"

"Ha ha, I won't. I know you have an image to uphold, Aomine_cchi_," Kise promised with a cheeky grin before sobering up. "Thank you, though. I promise … I won't give up. I will try my best to get better and then we'll have a one-on-one match again. I'm sure I'll defeat you this time!"

Aomine smirked. "I will make sure to beat that ego of yours down."

Kise laughed again and Aomine knew, he just knew, everything would be alright now.

**xXXx**

Except, of course everything was not.

**xXXx**

It was four o'clock in the next morning when Aomine's cell phone rang. The dark skinned man groggily answered it and it took him less than five minutes after that to run out of his apartment like he was losing his mind, tears blurring his sight.

No, Aomine was not really losing his mind. He was losing someone very important to him instead and he was just _too_ late. Things were left unsaid. Regret would forever haunt his mind.

He didn't even have the chance to say, "I love you" to Kise. He had planned to confess once the blond had gotten better, but now his chance was lost forever.

Aomine wished he could gather the time sand only to turn the glass hour back to the past.

**xXXx**

Kise didn't give up. His parents had told Aomine how he had kept struggling even in his last minutes, when the pain must feel unbearable since the cancer was getting bigger and bigger, pinching Kise's blood vessels and cutting off the oxygen supply to his brain. The blond man had refused to give up, telling them he had promised _Aomine_cchi to beat his own illness. Kise had fought, struggling with everything he could until finally strength and will power alone were not enough.

The last word Kise gave for Aomine was an apology. An apology for not being strong enough, for breaking their promise of having one-on-one again and, perhaps, an apology for stalling both of their time until finally there was just no time for them to drop their egos and insecurities long enough to admit their feelings towards each other.

Aomine wasn't sure he would be able to forgive Kise, but, as he put a red rose on top of Kise's coffin, he allowed the tears gathering on his eyes to fall. After all, he had been the one telling Kise it was alright to stop being strong once in a while. Surely he could use his own advice. Besides, if anyone was privileged enough to see him in his weakest state, it would be Kise who had always been staying behind him—and lately by his side—all the time.

The dark skinned man gazed unseeingly at the black, expensive looking coffin before whispering in hoarse voice,

"Don't you dare slacking off, Kise. I'll collect that one-on-one promise from you just yet.

… Let's bet on a kiss next time, shall we?"

—**End.**


End file.
